Kelley Lynn MacQueen, from our office, took the 4 week course and provides the following comments and notes. She is 26 years old and had a very limited knowledge of Spanish prior to this course.

WEEK 1 OF 4

Sunday, February 2, 2003 (Preclass Visit): Havana Vedado - Classes start tomorrow and I want to find out if it's necessary to pre-register and locate the building where the Spanish Classes for Foreigners are given. As you climb the stairs at San Lazaro/L street, the University entrance, the Library is located directly behind the Alma Mater Statue. To the left of the Library is the Barona building, where everyone goes first thing Monday morning for course payment and testing.

Monday, February 3, 2003 - Started school by writing an evaluation test to determine my level of Spanish. The 2-page test is the same for everyone. The first consisted of conjugation of verbs in past, present and future tense. I didn’t have a clue where to start with this, but I did know what the words meant. The second simply posed various questions which must have been to determine the breadth of your vocabulary/comprehension. At 11am everyone went back to the Barona building for instructions on where to find the placement info and class location posted the following day. The 5 levels are Elementary, Elementary Plus, Intermediate, Advanced, and Perfection and course duration is from 1 to 4 weeks. A general welcome and an information package on included excursions was distributed.

Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - I'm posted in Elementary Plus located at the top floor of the library. Ester is my professor. It's quite a climb, up 2 flights of big stairs, then 2 more quick flights and finally, the top level of the library. There are 13 students in my class, some seem more advanced than others and some seem like they may be misplaced. We’ll see how we all make out. Hmmm...my homework tonight takes me about a ½ hour to complete. Sometimes it takes longer, depending on how many words I have to look up in my dictionary. The teacher doesn’t really seem to like my using the dictionary a lot and we talk ONLY Spanish throughout the entire class.

Friday, February 7, 2003 - Today everyone brought fruit, I brought sugar and the teacher provided the blender and glasses for our "Carribean" punch. It was delicious. There is an excursion today to the Museum of Rum. Homework even on the weekend...

WEEK 2 of 4

Monday, February 10, 2003 - Learning is now getting a little more intense. We're working on the difference between the verb Estar and Ser, two very frequently used verbs which we must get a handle on. We're also getting into the past tense as well. Just showing up for class everyday will make a difference in how much you’ll get out of the course. All the information is just sitting in your brain until you have the opportunity to use it.

Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - Some students don’t come to class everyday, but they're able to understand the conversations and actually add the "street-lingo" they’ve picked up at "el bar". We’re learning command forms and things like –ing endings this week... still conversing in Spanish all throughout class... and homework, I’ve figured out, is EVERY night. No big deal I guess, because it’s basically what we covered in class and you always have your notes for reference.

Friday, February 14, 2003 - Today is a special day. El Dia de San Valentin (Valentines Day)...and my sister’s anniversary. I was feeling down and out today, not having a special novio (boyfriend, companion), but things were looking up when I got a hot pink rose from the 95-yr old security guard that watches my bike everyday in the parking lot. Granted, he usually has one for me every other day of the week too, but TODAY happened to be Saint Valentines day and if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have gotten much else. There is an excursion today to the Museo de la Cuidad.

WEEK 3 of 4

Monday, February 17, 2003 - My Cuban brother-in-law asked me when I was going to have a party for my new friends at school. (Note: I'm staying at his house during my course.) The thought never occurred to me, but what a great idea. The Japanese, Irani, and Swiss people in the class speak only their native language and Spanish, so we’ll all be forced to converse in Espanol. The party will be Thursday night.

Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - My sister Kristen and I made out the invitations last night, with directions to our house. The fiesta was planned! I’m making spaghetti and there'll be drinks to be drank. We’ve even convinced the teacher to cancel classes Friday, since our lesson will be pretty intense Thursday night.

Thursday, February 20, 2003 - Classes today consist of basic conversation. What did you do... What were you doing... all the forms in the correct tense. The party will be tonight, but the teacher still managed to give us homework. No rest for the wicked!!! By the third week of classes everyone is getting familiar with the language and close friendships have formed.

At the party, everyone drank rum, smoked cigars and danced... a typical Cuban atmosphere... with people from Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Iran, Japan, the United States... and last (but not least), the Cubans. I invited our old chauffeur, a friend from the kiosk around the corner, and girlfriends and boyfriends of some fellow students. I have known the driver for more than a year, but I've just started having my first actual conversations with him. The professor was quite impressed on how much Spanish was spoken and commented on what a good idea the party was. I think she’s done her job well.

Friday, February 21, 2003 - Thank God there was no school today, Las (a fellow from Germany) called me this morning to say that after our party ended at 1am, they headed to La Rampa and partied until 4am. He never even woke up till noon, so it's good classes were cancelled - not many students would’ve made it.

WEEK 4 of 4

Monday, February 24, 2003 - Today we’re learning the future tense, perhaps the easiest of all the tenses.

Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - This is our last "actual" day of schooling. Tomorrow we’ll go to Lenin Park via bus, leaving at 9am, returning at 1:30pm. At school today, the Elementary Plus classes all sat together and conversed in Spanish. It was great to see everyone has a grip on the language, one that we didn’t know very well only 4 short weeks ago. We were also rewarded our Diploma from the University of Havana.

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